EP011: Charmander – The Stray Pokémon

Worst: The Flying Pariahs

As the episode starts, Ash looks around for new Pokémon to catch and complains that there’s only Spearow around these parts. Well, you don’t have a Spearow, you idiot. Stop complaining about not finding any Pokémon to catch when flocks of them are literally hanging out beside you. But, I guess Spearow are off limits now that they’re just the Goombas to Pidgey’s Toad.

Are they the same flock from episode 1, just biding their time to envelop Ash for that time he threw a rock at one of them for no reason?

Worst: The Route 24 Less Traveled

Ash declares that Route 24 will take the party right to Vermilion City. The problem isn’t that he’s wrong (he is) but that he’s apparently right (he’s not) and it WILL take them there by episode 14.

I’ve mentioned before I’m a geography/continuity freak sometimes so, no sir, I don’t like it. I do understand the in-game route to Vermilion City is pretty silly and features underground paths and other hard-to-translate-into-an episode silliness but I would have hoped there was a better solution than having the party magically get there from Bill’s lighthouse.

Best: One Does Not Simply HM01 Cut Into Mordor

These three are idiots who are confused by silhouettes that I don’t think would look like that considering the amount of sunlight anyway. Besides, why do they think it’s a giant Pokémon? It’s clearly a Nazgûl out to steal Ash’s badges. Then again, I think if Sauron attacked Ash, they’d end up teaming up to fight Team Rocket and would then promise to meet again at the Pokemon League.

If Ash traveled to a far-away continent with Gandalf and a bunch of elves at the end of the episode while Brock married a hobbit version of Officer Jenny and no-one ever heard from him again then this would not necessarily make the show any worse.

Best: Hey, It’s My Super Ex-Girlfriend

It turns out that the silhouette is, of course, a Charmander. Ash freaks out like he did when he saw Bulbasaur, exclaiming how he was so disappointed when he couldn’t get a Charmander from Professor Oak back in Pallet Town.

Dude, Pikachu, your actual first Pokémon, is right there. Talk about tactless. At least throw him sort of consolation about being glad you ended up with him instead, Ash. If I were Pikachu, I’d be pissing out that flame on Charmander’s tail. No one’s going to steal your trainer away.

Worst: It Happened 35 Minutes Ago

Brock asks Ash to take a crack at interpreting Pikachu’s charades while Ash tries to interpret Pikachu’s charades. Did the script pages get shuffled or something? Brock has gone all Dr. Manhattan and is having conversations with the past or something and I’m just waiting for him to clone himself to try and seduce Nurse Joy.

Actually this entire scene is kind of stupid. Misty thinks that Charmander has an attitude problem because it doesn’t want to be captured, showing how quickly she got over her hysterics in the last episode when she broke down over trying to catch an Oddish.

To add to my complaints about this scene: I never liked Charmander’s voice. It’s whiny and too high-pitched and not something I’m going to relish listening to for the next few months. Apparently, Charmander only has that voice because the voice actor, Michael Haigney, thought Charmander would be some one-episode nobody Pokémon and didn’t put much thought or effort into it.